Customer Reviews

Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The point of this book was NOT to provide wanna-be producers with a grocery list of production gear to buy...it was not to reduce people's studio setups to a common checklist of items for others to buy.

The point of this book was to capture these producers' LIVES through pictuers. It does this by photographing their studios beautifully. The mess of vinyl records, the stacks of equipment on top of each other, and the general chaos of alot of these pictures shows you what producing is like. While you may not see the gear listed out for you (that would take a long time for each studio), you get a great insight into what these producers use to make their music. You see a selected discography (about 5 cuts) and a small description of each producer and their studio. The photos, again, are incredible to look at. Some in color, some in black and white, all of them very "real," and vintage-looking (just like the equipment).

Don't buy this book as a study or how-to of producing. Buy it because you LOVE making music and can appreciate the beauty of the equipment used to do so.

This is a great "coffee table" book for fans of hip hop production and hip hop in general. Producers, especially, will appreciate a project like this, as we are granted access to the home studios of producers whose names we see lining the notes of CDs and vinyl releases. Most of the producers featured in the book are what you could call "underground" producers. There are also a handful of bigger names, like DJ Premier, J-Dilla and DJ Shadow, who also open their home studios to the camera.

The pictures of these studio setups are very "artsy". The book is nicely laid out - with a few pictures of each studio. There is very little text - basically a brief introduction to each producer and a shoirt list of their selected works.

This was a great idea and I'm happy I found the book.

If your like me and love vinyl, read liner notes front to back, spend hours in dusty un-nameable places looking for that perfect record (preferably in the dollar bin) and produce your own music then this book is a worthy addition to your stuido. Even if you don't have a studio it's still worth pickin up if you are a fan of "underground" hip hop. Raph takes you to many of the most prestigous producers "bedroom" studio's (not all of them are bedrooms) showing you their working enviroment and their gear. I can sit and flip through this book for hours on end disecting each picture finding the key elements to the studio's (and trying to pick up some new titles to go diggin for). If you are at all interested in how the sonic landscapes were crafted for some of the greatest albums in the last 10-20 years pick this up! Not to mention the fact that the DJ Ransom's Mix CD is worth the price alone as it includes rare and classic tracks!

I recently purchased this book about a month ago, and I was very pleased with the quality of the photographs this book had. I was also surprised that some of the producers featured in the book had a lot smaller set ups than I imagined. So, it's actually good for the up and comers, that are on a budget to see that, just because you don't have million dollar equipment, doesn't mean you can't make million dollar records.

-David Grants.

this book is awesome, would recommend this book to anyone who is into music, a dj. real nice book

I saw this book at Urban Outfitters but it was like $30. I loved the images and since I'm a bedroom producer, I loved the content. I hopped onto Amazon later and found it for almost half that price! The only downside is that it doesn't go in-depth enough about each producer's studios. I would've liked to learn more about their gear and environment.

Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios is by far the most in depth look into the studios of some of the cultures finest producers. Not only are the pictures great, but also the brief synopsis on each musician. This book is a must have for any fan of hip hop and up and coming producers alike.

This compilation of photographs shows the studios of the most influental hiphop producers worldwide. From the likes of Einstein to J Dilla (RIP)everything is in there.
A definite must-have for all the hiphop fans and producers out there!

Interesting brief reviews of the each producer, accompanied by photos of their home studios. Nothing mind-blowing, but an interesting glimpse into their worlds.

This book is great!.
Raph, amassed a nice volume that really captures the essence of the "home/bedroom" studio. He writes a blurb about how he encountered each DJ/Producer. Each snippet even contains a few spelling errors (normally that gets to me, but for this genre I just think it works). He puts a short discograpy of the producer, but the rest is pics. This is the best part of the book. His photography truly conveys the essence of that world we enter into when we want to create. The world we've made for our music that's full of snapshots, pieces, dusty loops, and complexly configured equipment. The lab. THis book is a great gift for any hiphop head, producer, studio music lover. I had it on my Christmas/b-day list for years and no one copped it for me. So I just decided to get it myself.
My only criticism is the list of producers he didn't put in this book. Oh well maybe a Vol. 2 is in order.